On Being Good Mafia Bosses
by Recode
Summary: 1827, D59, some S80 - Tsuna only wants Gokudera and Dino to stop destroying the headquarters, and Hibari is willing to help - with hidden intentions . Still, chaos ensues. "Are you implying that good mafia bosses all fight in boxers when they were young?"


**Title: **On Being Good Mafia Bosses  
**Fandom:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn  
**Pairings: **Dino/Gokudera (D59, yes, for once :3), fail!humour/ internal flirting pre-Hibari/Tsuna, mentions of Squalo/Yamamoto/Squalo for the lulz  
**Characters:** Tsuna, Hibari, Gokudera, Dino, Yamamoto, Squalo, Lambo, Reborn, mentions of other characters  
**Rating:** T for (tako-head) tacky romance and language  
**Genre:** Romantic Comedy  
**Word Count:** 6,669  
**Note:** Gokudera was the one who named Hibird in this fic. Note that most of the words in brackets are supposed to be crossed. You might want to read the fic in its original form on my writing LJ.  
**Teaser:** Tsuna only wanted Dino and Gokudera's amusingly amusing predicament to end, and Hibari was willing to help. Still, chaos ensued.

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It was the third time that month that Dino had to deal with a very grumpy Gokudera as they discussed matters of the mafia. The young Cavallone was expecting a nice long chat over tea with Tsuna, but as luck had it, he always ended up having to deal with the right-hand man who never seemed to agree with Dino without first arguing back and forth. It always ended up with Tsuna calming Gokudera down through long-distance phone calls, apologising to Dino for not being able to meet him, and promising to visit him later - along with souvenirs, of course.

This time, however, Dino was determined not to bother Tsuna and whatever it was his little brother was doing. He figured he should try making small talks with the disagreeable young man.

"So, I heard you named Kyouya's bird," Dino stated good-naturedly, carefully setting the stack of papers to a safer corner of the tea table. _Just in case I spill my tea_, he thought.

Gokudera 's bored look remained on his face. Sipping his tea, he snapped at Dino. "What of it?"

Dino resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest wall. Or desk. Or the tea table. He kept his smile and shrugged. "I just didn't think that you would name it _Hibird_, of all things. It doesn't sound like –"

_Oh shit._

"—a good name."

He said it, didn't he? He just insulted Gokudera's naming sense, or the lack of , oh why did Dino fail so much at engaging in light-hearted conversations? He blamed Reborn for it. He blamed it on Hibari too. Having them as tutor and student must really have impacted very, _very _badly on his social skills.

He could just feel the menacing aura emanating from Gokudera's now tense body. It was a slight movement, but Dino saw how Gokudera's fingers tightened around the handle of the poor porcelain teacup. Any minute now, the other man would reach for his dynamites and try to bomb Dino's brain into unpleasant pieces of burnt flesh.

"I mean…"

Gokudera put his teacup down and reached into his pocket. Dino was prepared to either run away or draw his whip at the speed of light if he needed to. To his surprise, Gokudera only retrieved a toffee from his suit pocket, unwrapped it and pop the sweet confectionery into his mouth before giving Dino yet another intense glare.

Only it wasn't as threatening anymore, because Dino could not for the life of him associate a toffee-eating man with total _badassery_. He heard from Tsuna that Gokudera was trying to stop smoking, if only for Tsuna's sake, and found it rather cute that his choice of escapism was toffee.

"What would you have named it, then?"

Dino's smile actually faltered at that. Gokudera was actually _talking_ to him. Being the natural idiot that Dino was, he took it as a sign that Gokudera was not angry at him in the least. How bad of him to judge Gokudera so shallowly like that. He was Tsuna's right-hand man. Of course he was not that bad.

Dino, however, didn't have much experience in friendship to know when to not speak your mind, especially if you've only just started out as friends. Having Superbia Squalo as one of your first friends was not actually very pleasant, you see.

"Oh, just something other than Hibird or Hitori and Hidori, if you take the Japanese nouns. It's too obvious that it's the combination of Kyouya's name and the word 'bird'. Kind of lame, don't you think?"

Dino didn't even have the chance to draw his whip, nor did he have the chance to run when the first explosion took place.

Goddamn Reborn. Goddamn Kyouya.

Goddamn Squalo too.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hibari was on the verge of snapping as Romario tended to Dino's wound from his unlucky encounter with Gokudera's rage. Why couldn't he just do it in his car or something? It wasn't like Romario was driving, so he could tend to Dino's wounds on their way back just fine. Why his office, and why was Hibari not fast enough to ask Tetsu to not let Dino in?

Goddammit, where was Tsunayoshi and the baby to keep this guy occupied?

"Are you listening to me at all, Kyouya?" Dino looked over to where Hibari was furiously typing on his keyboard.

Hibari didn't answer. Saying 'no' would only mean that he was actually listening. He learned it from experience that once Dino thought he had your full attention, he would continue talking (or in Hibari's case, admonishing) until the training ground was either destroyed or until both of them were covered in too much blood, sending Romario and Kusakabe into panic mode and asking for both of them to stop.

Dino's eyebrow twitched. Really, what was it with Kyouya acting like a spoilt, rebellious child with a severe case of superiority complex? Even after six years, the young man didn't change at all. The only changes observable were his height and his now short and slightly spiky hair.

"Really now, Kyouya… It's not nice to ignore your poor teacher like that. Even Gokudera knows how to listen when someone talks."

_Oh, yes, definitely. He even knows when to interrupt a conversation so that he could blow the other person up, and that's because he's so very good at listening_. Hibari remained silent as Dino droned on about Gokudera.

Again.

Hibari's fingers stopped. Wait a moment now… So this was the third time this month that Dino came to his office, all wounded, because of Gokudera Hayato. This was the third time this month that Dino came to his office and seemed to talk and talk and talk non-stop about his explosive incidents with Gokudera Hayato. This was the third time this month that Dino did not complain about having to deal with Gokudera Hayato instead of Tsunayoshi or the baby.

Hibari finally tore his eyes away from his laptop and stared at Dino, who immediately noticed the stare and blinked.

Hibari smirked.

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"Uh, could you… run that by me again, Hibari-san?"

Deciding that it was not worth it to draw his tonfas on this _(adorable)__ idiot_, he crossed his arms and continued staring down at Tsuna, who was stuck between half sitting and half standing up in his chair.

"I'm telling you that you should do something about your _whipped herbivorous puppy_ and your idiot of an older _brother_."

Tsuna's legs gave away, pushing him back down onto his seat with a whooshing sound of leather meeting the smooth fabric of his dress pants. Hibari was immediately reminded of _dame-Tsuna_, who used to slide down against the wall after the bullies left him alone to get bitten to death by Hibari not long after. Not that Tsuna knew anything about all the biting anyway.

_This isn't the right time to be reminiscing, bastard._

He waited for Tsuna to snap out of his initial surprise. Reborn was not around to whack the young boss' head for showing such an inappropriately pathetic reaction, so Hibari was going to have to wait until Tsuna was out of it. Or until Hibari's thin string of patience snapped. Fortunately for Tsuna, it was the former.

"So…," Tsuna started, staring up nervously at Hibari's intimidating (and bored, Tsuna noted) eyes. "Dino-san and Gokudera-kun, you said?"

_What are you now, deaf?_ "Mmhmm."

"Now that I think about it – please have a seat, Hibari-san – Gokudera-kun seems to be complaining a great deal about Dino-san lately. It's always Dino-san this and Dino-san that, and, um… Oh my…"

"Mmhmm." No, Hibari was definitely _not _enjoying Tsuna's mental anguish.

"Oh my God, last time it was Yamamoto and Squalo, now Gokudera-kun and Dino-san? How could I not notice this?" _How the hell did Hibari-san, of all people, who doesn't give a damn about someone's life or death, see this coming before I do?_

_Just like how you never noticed how that pineapple bastard's perverted obsession with your body and soul goes beyond the 'revenge' boundary,_ Hibari thought. Tsuna's reaction was a sweet_, sweet _one, but not what Hibari was expecting_. _"Are you implying that the idiot's sentiment is not one-sided?"

Tsuna chuckled nervously. He was still trying to get over the fact that Yamamoto was seeing Squalo (when he was totally rooting for Yamamoto to get together with Gokudera too!), and now his abused brain was going to have to swallow and chew on another equally disturbing information. "I guess?"

"Good, then."

"Excuse me?"

"Now we know what to do to get them to stop destroying the place and disrupting the silence. I can do my paperwork in peace, and they can do whatever the hell they want to – _without_ bothering me."

Tsuna was not sure what reaction would be most appropriate in this situation. Hibari, the invincible Hibari, had just suggested for them to play matchmakers. Here Tsuna was thinking that Hibari had so many things to do that he couldn't be bothered with trivial things like somebody else's love life. Apparently, he was wrong.

"What do you suggest we do, Hibari-san?"

"We could start with creating excuses and opportunities for them to see each other."

_And risk destroying even more properties_, they both thought with dismay.

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Tsuna was glad Gokudera and Dino didn't notice how he was actually hiding in the closet just next to Gokudera's overstuffed bookshelves.

With Hibari's body as the wall Tsuna was leaning against.

Tsuna was trying to leave a fake note asking Gokudera to visit the Cavallone estate on his behalf, with Hibari helping him with the proofreading. The Vongola boss was a failure at deception, so he needed someone to help forge the lie. He was folding the letter when the sound of Gokudera's angry footsteps rounded the corner. In his panic, Tsuna grabbed Hibari by the hand, shoved the man into the closet, hauled himself in and pulled the door shut.

What he didn't expect was Dino to also be there. He thought Dino had gone home after the meeting with Reborn earlier. It almost made him want to giggle like a fangirl.

"I totally told you last time that the Alberto family was bad news! Look at what they tried to do to Juudaime, you pathetic excuse of a mafia don!" Gokudera screeched, slapping his palm down onto the stack of papers detailing the loss and damages they took after a shooting fiasco with another mafia famiglia two days prior.

"Calm down, Gokudera Hayato," Dino glared. "We couldn't have known that they were keeping that kind of foul intention. They've been our ally for over two years."

Gokudera huffed. "Trusting other people so easily, Bucking Horse? You totally fail as a _good _mafia boss, regardless of what Reborn-san and your subordinates thought."

Tsuna resisted the urge to groan aloud in the closet. _That kind of hurt me a little, Gokudera-kun_. He felt Hibari's chest rumble, indicating the man's silent amusement.

"Oh, and what exactly do you know about a good mafia boss? I assure you that Reborn had trained me into an exceedingly fine boss, just like how he trained Tsuna."

"Don't compare your darn self to Juudaime's awesomeness, bastard."

_Stop it, Gokudera-kun!_

Dino rolled his eyes. He should have known not to reason with Gokudera, whose brain was three-quarter composed of 'Juudaime this, and Juudaime that'. A part of Dino wanted to smack Gokudera's head upside down while another part of him was thinking of the word smack in a different context altogether.

_NOW WAIT JUST A FUCKING MINUTE THERE!!!_

He did not just thought of Gokudera and a smacking kiss in one single line of thought. He could not have thought that. It was just as bad as thinking of giving Tsuna or Kyouya a kiss --- no, ugh, just no. Granted, thinking about kissing Gokudera was a lot less disturbing, but that was beside the whole point!

Reborn!

Reborn must have slipped some kind of weird stuff into his drink when they were talking in the sadistic Arcobaleno's room before. Yes, yes, that must be it.

"See," Gokudera's huff brought Dino out of his trance. "You're all silent now, thanks to my mention of Juudaime's awesomeness."

"In case you forgot, Mr. Right-hand Man, I am also a 'Juudaime'. I'll have you know that Tsuna _told me_ that he look up to _me_, and that's present tense to you. Just because I didn't start out clad in a boxer doesn't mean I'm less 'awesome'."

Hibari was definitely holding back a very amused laughter now, much to Tsuna's dismay. _Dino-saaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn._

Gokudera's blood boiled. How dare this man talk like he's so great? And mentioning Juudaime's boxer too! The nerve of him…

"Are you making fun of Juudaime's boxer, you bastard? I'll have you know that Juudaime in a boxer was at least a thousand times more awesome than you and your pathetic whip. Now _that_'s a good mafia boss."

Tsuna was too embarrassed to even whimper. He didn't even notice how Hibari tensed up when Gokudera mentioned the young Tsuna and his boxer. Somehow, the 'Juudaime in a boxer was awesome' part gave him a different connotation, which annoyed the hell out of him. _He. Must. Get. Gokudera. And. Dino. To. Be. Together_. Soon.

"Are you implying that good mafia bosses all fight in boxers when they were young?"

Tsuna flinched.

Eyebrows raised, Gokudera smirked. "What, I bet you're jealous because you don't wear boxers."

Despite feeling annoyed and angry, Dino was highly amused now. He could sense a fight coming, but he decided to play along in this banter anyway. "And how do you know I don't wear one? You love me so much that you even know about my undies, huh?"

"They're flirting," Hibari whispered into Tsuna's ears, which sent shivers down the younger man's spine. "A good progress, I must say."

_Not when this conversation started out because of __**my **__boxers! _Tsuna wanted to shout. Hibari was having too much fun.

Gokudera was speechless now. He was only saying it out of spite, but Dino apparently was not swayed by his attempt to outsmart the older man. This was precisely why Gokudera hated people who are older than him.

"You, you…Gaah, That bastard Hibari told me! So what?"

Tsuna turned his head so fast that he could feel the strain. "You did, Hibari-san???" A dark aura was gathering around the now very irritated Hibari.

"You're a moron if you believed that," Hibari hissed harshly, effectively shutting Tsuna up. "I'm going to fucking kill both of them," he grunted through gritted teeth.

Dino threw his head back and laughed. "Oh my goodness, you sure know how to joke! As if our 'I-don't-give-a-damn-about-you' Kyouya would know about what I wear and what I don't. You really don't want to let him hear that, Gokudera."

_Too late, Dino-san! Both of you, please stop this! _Tsuna pleaded inwardly, feeling the air in the closet turning colder by each minute.

"I don't fucking care about him. He can listen all he wants. If you think that sissy can scare me, you're out of your bloody mind."

_OhmyGod__pleasegokuderakunpleasepleasepleaseforyourownsakeifnotmineSTOPIT!!!_

Dino burst out laughing at Gokudera's description of Hibari. Pft, sissy! "Heh, I guess you're right. Not to mention when he's pissed off, he tends to take it out on people like a pansy, just like you."

"What the fuck? Are you calling me a pansy, jerk? Save it for that anal-retentive freak."

Hibari, to everyone who knew him, or even heard the mention of his name, was not a man of patience. He could tune people out when he didn't want to listen, sure, but he was not one who could disregard insults like they meant nothing.

Add to the fact those people were _the_ Smoking Bomb and _the_ Bucking Horse.

Who the fuck cares about closet and secrecy? Definitely not Hibari.

Tsuna wanted the floor to swallow him whole when Hibari's final thread of patience snapped, shoving the almost crying Tsuna out of the closet and into the open. To say that Gokudera and Dino were shocked was an understatement. They were rendered utterly speechless not at the sight of Hibari and his purple flame, but at the bizarre fact that Hibari just came out of the closet – Gokudera's closet, to be exact, with Tsuna who looked about ready to cry; to Dino and Gokudera, though, Tsuna looked completely flustered.

"You idiots have the nerve of steel, but I'll bite you both to death anyway."

Gokudera was the first to snap out of his trance. "Wait, what the hell were you doing in _my_ closet? And with Juudaime?! What did you do to him?!" _And why my office, of all place? _

Tsuna put on his best guilty look. "It's not what you think, Gokudera-kun! We were just--"

His attempt at making a plausible explanation fell onto deaf ears. To nobody's surprise, Hibari was the one who charged first. Gokudera was quick to dodge, sending a handful of explosives towards Hibari, which were easily deflected and landed on the still-in-the-state-of-shock Dino instead.

It was a full out war after that, with Tsuna hugging his knees to his chest out in the balcony, thinking about the damages and replacements he would have to consider in his next stash of paperwork. That was how Reborn found him before the enraged hitman turned Leon into a machine gun and fired at the three moronic idiots who had the nerve to interrupt his nap.

It wasn't all that surprising when Gokudera and Hibari's paychecks arrived with the amount cut in almost half. Dino was also banned from visiting the Vongola HQ for a month – for 'reflection time', according to Reborn.

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Yamomoto wondered if he should stop Gokudera from abusing the alcohol cabinet in the lounge. He was surprised when the other man sent him a text message asking him to bring as much alcohol as he could carry from the airport. Gokudera, who was very particular about work, barking at everyone who dared to even take a minute of rest during their patrol duties, was telling Yamamoto that he needed to get drunk. In the end, he didn't wait for Yamamoto to return, attacking the cabinets where they usually keep bottles prepared for Xanxus instead.

"So you see, hic, Juudaime wouldn't look at my face anymore when he speaks to me… and it's all _his_ fault. Juudaimeeeeeeeeee…hic."

A nervous laugh escaped Yamamoto's lips. How does one reason with a drunken Gokudera? It was already nearly impossible to reason with Gokudera when he was completely sober. "I'm sure that's only your imagination." _Lame reasoning is lame_, Yamamoto thought, _but better than not saying anything_.

"Noooooo…. wasn't my imagination," Gokudera slurred. "m'sure 'bout it. At this rate (hic), bastard Hibari is going to take my place, and it's all _his_ fault."

_Huh, Hibari? What the hell happened when I was away?_

"He thinks he's so good, huh? Like I care about his new hairstyle."

Yamamoto chuckled. That sounded like Hibari alright, though something was not right about the hairstyle remark.

"He thinks Juudaime regards him so highly, so he's allowed to do anything in here. He's even developed a hobby of walking into my office like he owns the place. Who the fuck cares if he's sexy?"

_Wait, what?_

"Sure, he has one hell of body, but he's still a bastard… That bastard… and his stupid grins. Stupid smiles. Stupid blond hair… Stupid tattoo… Stupid… stupid… hic. 'sall his fault… Mmm…"

Flop.

Yamamoto watched with hidden amusement as Gokudera's head hit the bar counter, mumbling "Juudaime~" miserably. So he wasn't talking about Hibari, thank Heavens, because Gokudera associating Hibari with grins and smiles would be wrong on so many levels. He was more than 100% sure that Gokudera was talking about Dino. Nobody else would fit into the descriptions of blond hair and tattoo and grins like Dino could, at least to Yamamoto. He was starting to regret accepting that mission in China. It seemed like he had missed far too many things. With a sigh, he softly tapped on Gokudera's shoulder, trying to bring the man back from his land of misery.

"Oi, Gokudera? Don't fall asleep here. You'll get sick," Yamamoto reprimanded, shaking the stubborn shoulders. "Tsuna's going to get worried."

"No, I'm not worthy of Juudaime's worry… and it's all _his_ fault that Juudaime wouldn't look at me anymore," Gokudera slurred miserably, much to Yamamoto's dismay.

The tall swordsman turned to the doorway when he heard a long, suffering sigh. Tsuna stood there with eyebags dark under his eyes, presenting the very picture of an office worker being overworked to the limit. His vest was unbuttoned, his tie undone and his hair in disarray. Yamamoto blinked before waving.

"Yo, Tsuna."

Tsuna waved back tiredly. Gokudera was too delirious to notice his beloved boss' presence. "So," Tsuna started, motioning towards Gokudera. "How long has he been like that?"

Yamamoto shrugged. "He's already drunk by the time I arrived."

He watched as Tsuna released another sigh and raked one hand through his hair in something akin to exasperation. Yamamoto frowned. "What happened, Boss?"

Everyone knew that Yamamoto meant business when he called Tsuna 'Boss'. Tsuna himself was no exception. It flattered him that someone as amazing as Yamamoto (in Tsuna's mind) would call him 'boss'.

"Help me get Gokudera to his bed first, and then we'll talk in my office. Oh, you won't mind if I have some of that, will you?"

Tsuna would really like to loosen up, and the unopened bottles Yamamoto brought from the airport looked like they were beckoning him with utmost glee.

The other man gave a nervous laugh. "Of course I won't mind," he said with a small laugh. He just needed to find a good reason when Reborn asked him who gave Tsuna the alcohol.

"Good, now come and help me, please."

"Mmmm…. Juudaime…"

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"For fuck's sake, stop moping, you nitwit!"

"But Squalo…"

"Don't Squalo me! And shut up."

". . ."

". . ."

Abused puppy eyes.

". . ."

Veins popped.

". . ."

"You… Argh, fuck it. Just… Just say whatever it is you want to say before I change my mind."

Superbia Squalo swore that Dino never actually grew up from being the bullied classmate that he once was. The half-sober boss of the Cavallone family was lounging miserably on the black sofa in Squalo's office. Romario was somewhere in the mansion, probably being pestered by a bored Belphegor or harassed by the ever flamboyant Lussuria.

Despite the approaching migraine, Squalo let Dino drone on and on about his misery. Never let it be heard by Dino or anyone else that Squalo actually liked the guy as a friend, even if it meant having to constantly tolerate his clumsiness.

"So, um, yeah. Reborn kind of banned me from visiting until the month is over," Dino finished his story with a long sigh that made Squalo flinch inwardly.

_Too bad the ban doesn't extend to the Varia base as well_. "And you're miserable because of that?"

"C'mon Squalo, you know I don't like to leave things hanging. Kyouya just had to interrupt when Gokudera and I were still in the middle of that argu.. _discussion_. From inside the closet too. The closet, you hear me? Who knows what he did to Tsuna in there…"

Squalo snorted. While he didn't want to know what the Cloud guardian was doing with the brat in someone else's closet, he had an idea about it (a totally wrong idea, just like Dino and Gokudera). "Vooiii!! It's just a stupid argument, stupid Cavallone! It's not like you were having a lover's spat and were attempting to make up and make out. It's not like you were waiting to molest the guy to shut him up, so why so miserable?!"

". . ."

Silence.

"Wait…"

Dino held his hands up in a defensive stance. "Um, no. I wasn't planning to do any of that…"

Squalo was relieved to be wrong, for once. Of course, Dino and Gokudera? Who was he kidding? Takeshi never mentioned anything about his best friend, so there was no way it was that way.

"Um, just a lip-smack on the cheek… at least that was what I was thinking then."

Another stretching silence ensued.

"v.. Vvv… VOOOOOIIII!!!!"

Sometimes, Squalo hated to be right.

When the month was up, Tsuna would be all confused when he received another stash of paperwork detailing the damages to the Varia base. Maybe he needed to speak to Xanxus about the man's habit of destroying too many properties or in Gokudera's words, having random hissy fits all over the place.

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After getting smashed pretty heavily the previous night, he had fallen into a bright and colourful dreamland. There was a beautiful garden, full of bright flowers and flaming horses. Gokudera remembered kicking some of the horses as he walked through the open garden, only because they reminded him too strongly of Dino. He reached a small altar at the end of the garden – an altar made of gold, overlooking a lake where small sharks were swimming happily, chasing the equally joyful swallows flying over the water. There was another altar at the other end of the lake, but it was silver. A majestic horse was sprawled on the silver altar, dying. Gokudera was taken aback at the sight. He wanted to swim across the lake to look at the poor animal, but he found himself unable to take even one step forward.

He looked at his leg to find it frozen to the ground. Uri, the little feline  
Gokudera thought he had forcefully put into the box, was sleeping against his frozen leg. Gokudera watched with horror as the dying horse burst into flame, startling Uri, who began to cry, making Gokudera wonder if box animals could cry. And then his dream scene changed into a kaleidoscope of blinding colours, sending him back to the realm of the living.

Thanks to the weird dream, he was up late for his usual office hours by two hours. He was supposed to be up at about five in the morning to follow his carefully planned daily routine – wake up, stretch, shower, prepare Juudaime's breakfast, wake Juudaime up, breakfast with Juudaime, help Juudaime prepare for work, check up on the subordinates, go to his office. All the more reason for him to feel miserable, he thought.

Gokudera stumbled out of the shower and glared at his reflection in the mirror. How the hell was he supposed to greet Juudaime with his bloodshot eyes? Heck, his subordinates would think he was up crying himself to sleep the whole night. Maybe he could make use of the concealer Haru gave him last Christmas as a joke – to hide the ever-present lines on his forehead, the girl had told him. He was glad that Haru was in their base in Japan, having some kind of mafia training under Bianchi's supervision. He would never hear the end of it if she knew he was actually making use of the concealer.

After combing his hair and straightening his coat, his gave himself a once-over before stepping out of his room with an air of elegance to which his subordinates referred to as the 'Prince-like aura', much to Bel's annoyance. He spotted Yamamoto sitting at one of the tables in the lounge with a steaming cup of tea in his hand.

"Morning, Gokudera! Feeling better today?" the baseball-freak greeted happily.

Gokudera scowled. He could faintly remember Yamamoto being there when he was drunk last night. "Don't think I'd thank you for helping me get to my room," he hissed. They both knew Gokudera didn't actually mean it.

Yamamoto just laughed it off as usual, watching Gokudera retrieve a carton of orange juice from the fridge. "Yeah, yeah, I know. At least thank Tsuna, would you? He helped get you to bed and then tucked you in~"

The carton fell to the floor before Gokudera could pour the content into the glass. He looked at Yamamoto like the other man was a ghost. "Juudaime did what?"

"Um… Got you to your room and tucked you in, why?"

It wasn't long before Yamamoto was staring at an empty room, at least until Lambo joined him for breakfast. It took him a while before realising he forgot to tell Gokudera that Tsuna was not yet in his office because of… certain circumstances.

"Yamamoto-shi?" the young Lambo, hair still wet from the morning shower (he probably ran away from Fuuta again), blinked at Yamamoto's look of silent shock. Yamamoto quickly snapped out of his trance and grinned at the kid.

"I'm fine, Lambo. You want something with that milk? I can make you something."

Lambo's eyes sparkled. "Pancakes, please?"

"Alright. I'll make it sweet. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes! Yay~"

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"Juudaime!"

Gokudera burst into Tsuna's office, surprising the hell out of his subordinates (and Yamamoto's, who were patrolling the corridors). He was surprised to not see Tsuna there when it was already 8.15am. Reborn would normally personally make sure that Tsuna would be in his office from as early as 7.30am every single day, even if Gokudera was not there to wake Tsuna up. The large polished table in itself was a mess, papers fallen off their stack in disarray. The ink bottle Tsuna liked so much (because of its distinct smell) was on the floor. The to-die-for La Modernista Diamonds Tsuna got from Timoteo on his official inauguration was also on the floor, just a few inches to the left. With a horrified gasp, Gokudera retrieved the pen and the bottle, putting them into Tsuna's drawer and locking it. The loss of that pen would equal to half-destruction of the Varia base, which would amount to over 200 thousands in value.

What happened to Tsuna after he left Gokudera's room last night? Was he attacked? Why didn't Yamamoto say anything? Why didn't anyone tell him anything? Shit, what would he do if Juudaime had been ambushed by one of the people patrolling the corridors? What if it was a person associated with the darn Alberto famiglia? What if it was one of Gokudera's own subordinates?

Gokudera paled. He was on the verge of panicking. He reached for his phone and dialed a random number in his head, but no one picked up. Cursing, he dashed towards Tsuna's personal quarters, almost running into a few innocent passers-by along the corridors, yelling "JUUDAIME!" at the top of his voice. His heart thumped in his chest when he saw that Tsuna's door was slightly ajar. He pushed the door opened… and gasped.

Tsuna was on his bed, hugging himself with one hand while his other hand was loosely clutching the cordless phone, wearing only a dress-shirt from last night. Hibari, fully clothed in his usual suit (to Gokudera's relief), sat next to Tsuna on the bed, running one hand up and down the younger man's back as Reborn stood before one of the French windows, looking out speechlessly. It was as if Tsuna was crying over someone's death.

Urm, no one died, right?

He heard Tsuna groan, his voice hoarse. "D… Dino-san… How could… How…"

"Hush, Tsunayoshi," Hibari admonished the boy harshly. "He's not worth it. Stop thinking about it."

Reborn sighed from his position. "Hn… Stupid Dino had it coming. Don't sweat it, Dametsuna."

"But I can't believe that Dino-san…. He's…"

Gokudera frowned. What was it about Dino that was causing Juudaime so much pain in the morning? Did something happen to the idiot?

A small pang of pain pricked at his beating heart, but he refused to acknowledge it. His priority at the moment was Tsuna's wellbeing!

"Juudaime! Are you alright?! You –"

Gokudera was immediately silenced when Tsuna held his hand up, signaling for him to stop talking. "Please, Gokudera-kun…. After Dino-san, I just can't… Ugh."

He watched as Tsuna gripped the phone so hardly that it broke, startling even Hibari and Reborn. Gokudera's mind was trying to process the bits of broken information he was hearing. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like someone had died.

And then he remembered his weird dream.

Gokudera gasped. The pain in his heart intensified. He felt like he was going to have a heart attack soon. Noticing the pained gasp, Tsuna peeked at his loyal right-hand man from his messy locks of hair, somewhat startled at the look of horror on the man's face.

"Gokudera-kun?"

"… It was _him_, right, Juudaime? It was Dino Cavallone, right?"

Hibari scoffed before Tsuna could reply. "Who else do you think? Tsunayoshi received a call this morning. Him being like an angsty pubescent this early in the morning can only be caused by the other overgrown pubescent."

Gokudera's heart sank. So something had truly happened to Dino. It was true that he didn't like Dino, but that doesn't mean that he wanted to see the man dead. On occasions, maybe, but not all of the time. Not really. They still had to resolve all those arguments. They still needed to see whose skills were better. Gokudera still needed to beat the living shit out of Dino for occupying his dream.

Good grief, why was he even dreaming about Dino in the first place?

"_And how do you know I don't wear one? You love __me so much that you even know about my undies, huh?"_

No…

"_You love__ me so much that you even know about my undies, huh?"_

No way…

No fucking way…

Could it be that he, Gokudera Hayato, was actually harbouring feelings towards the (sexy) blond mafia Don all this time? Was it what he was missing? Was that why he was always easily annoyed by everything Dino said and did?

But now Dino was no longer…

"Juudaime, may I please be excused from work today?"

Reborn raised an eyebrow at the bizarre request. Hibari stared at him with a bored look, but the look suddenly turned into one of amused as if he had just figured something out. Gokudera, however, was too miserable to notice Hibari's 'I-know-something-you-don't' expression.

"With his head still buried in his bent knees, Tsuna mumbled his consent. Before leaving, Gokudera made sure that Tsuna was not physically wounded. He nodded to Reborn solemnly, gave Hibari a brief glare, bowed to Tsuna and left the room.

Shortly after Gokudera left, Reborn forced Tsuna into telling him where he got the bottles of alcohol littered in his room. Not wanting to argue much, Tsuna mentally apologized to Yamamoto as he told Reborn where he got them. It wasn't like he could lie about it, with the price tags on the bottles clearly saying 'Fontanarossa Duty Free' and Yamamoto being the only one who had just came back. The arcobaleno kicked Tsuna lightly before heading out to find Yamamoto, and probably to tell the poor swordsman to never buy alcohol ever again.

"Finally, silence…" Tsuna sighed aloud after Reborn left. "I really can't take this hangover anymore if Gokudera-kun and Reborn keep yelling my name the whole day. Having a wasted Dino-san shouting into the phone so early in the morning was torture enough. Ugh, my head… But why was Gokudera-kun looking so sad?"

Hibari chuckled knowingly.

"What's so funny?" Tsuna snapped. Hangover always turned Tsuna into an overly grumpy and snappish young mafia boss. Even Mukuro and Hibari learned not to mess with him when he was like this.

"Let's just say that we're one step closer towards the end of our matchmaking project, though you really are amazing to be able to do that so naturally."

"Uh, what?"

"The way you kept moaning the idiot's name like a kicked puppy, he probably thought the idiot has finally bitten the dust and gotten himself killed. Hn. Too bad it's not true."

"Um, Hibari-san… Are you telling me that Gokudera-kun thought…."

"… that the Bucking Horse is dead? Of course. You should have looked at his face."

Tsuna was rendered speechless. His headache was worsening, thanks to the shock of having unintentionally misled Gokudera into thinking that Dino was dead. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Do so in the bathroom. After that, you're signing all the papers for the Foundation."

"Ugh, more paperworks…"

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Romario was not sure what actually just happened. He opened the door just to be knocked over by the tenth Vongola's right-hand man storming into the Cavallone mansion, straight up into his boss' room. There was a lot of yelling and crying and more yelling, followed by silence, another bout of yelling and some explosions. Amidst the chaos, they all heard the boss telling them not to come into his room.

And then silence.

And then a loud moan.

… A loud moan?

Romario stared at the closed door attentively just in time to pick up another long moan and a rustle of clothes. He walked to the nearest window and smiled at the bright morning sun. "The boss is becoming a real man," he said to no one.

After the ban was lifted, fights between Gokudera and Dino had lessened to a small degree of awkward banters, name callings and random small arguments which almost always led to a flustered Tsuna walking in on intimate moments between his older brother and his right-hand man. Nevertheless, Tsuna was happy that Gokudera had stopped bombing random things in his arguments with Dino. Yamamoto found new topics to gossip about with Squalo, and Dino no longer used Hibari's office as a temporary clinic after his random fights with Gokudera.

However…

"… you know? That's why last week was a really awesome week. I can't believe it's possible to be so happy, but it's true! Maybe I can talk Tsuna into giving Hayato another weekend off so we can go there again~"

Hibari's hands were trembling. He was nearing his limits, and he was starting to regret matchmaking this idiot with the other idiot. After his talk with Reborn or Tsuna or Gokudera, Dino made a habit of lounging on the sofa of Hibari's office, boasting about his 'happy love-life' to his favourite student. _"You only have one student, idiot Dino,"_ Reborn had said, but Dino didn't seem to care much about his wrong notion of favouritism.

Gritting his teeth, the Cloud guardian hissed in anger, "If you're only here to tell me about your icky love life, I suggest you get the hell out before I bite you to death."

To Hibari's annoyance, Dino tut-tutted at him. "Tsk, tsk, Kyouya… You're just jealous because you don't have a love life. Let me guess, sweet little Tsuna rejected your advances again?"

"Moron, don't say I didn't warn you. I'll bite you to death!"

And so another fight between the mentor and student ensued. Tsuna could only listen from his office with both his hands covering his ears.

"No… No more, please, no more~"

Somewhere in the mansion, Reborn hummed happily as he polished his favourite gun. He wondered if Tsuna knew that to be a good mafia boss, one must be able to handle subordinates like Gokudera and Hibari, and allies like Dino.

Hang in there, Tsuna!

**END.**_  
for now, at least =P_**  
**

As I go on with my 1827 journal fic (can be read here; you might want to participate/comment there as well: http : // kamikorosu . dreamwidth . org), my 1827 doujinshis and my original mangas, I'll be writing more fics too. Thank heavens for term breaks. Until later! Oh, and inputs of any kind are always appreciated.

**For those who don't know**

* Fontanarossa = Fontanarossa Airport (or Catania Airport; Aeroporto Internazionale Catania) is an international airport in West Sicily.

* La Modernista Diamonds = the most expensive fountain pen in the world, crafted by Caran d'Ache


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